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Knowing who to talk to and what to talk about can be a challenge. I use this mad libs style exercise with clients to help them articulate who they want to engage with and on what topics. This helps us to identify the attributes, experiences, and problems we should recruit for.

Yes. Especially #4. This is human-centered theater when done improperly. We’re not here primarily to change our customers per se, rather, we want our customers to change us.

"Validation" is like a disease that has infected entrepreneurs and product managers. blog.cauvin.org/2014/02/stop...

Listening just for validation is a common pitfall. I see so many people asking biased questions diminishing the value of user research. There are some really good books out there on how to ask questions. But if I had to pick one that is accessible, I would recommend The Mom Test.

One of my fav allegories is how "influencer" product managers are shouting about "talk to X (amount of) customers weekly!" but with no real substance beyound some pre-defined questions in their previous newsletter/post. As you can imagine, this rarely *just* works.

Or even worse, and much more often so: the wrong thing.

I agree that getting started helps, but I've watched people spend a year going to the gym, do the wrong things, and be worse off than where they started.